Revolt as a comparative example to the mining project, claiming that both involved an attempt to steal their land, without any prompting from the interviewer.
A second resistance strategy used by local people was various forms of public protest, both violent and non-violent. In terms of non-violent protest, an anti-mining march was organized in July 2008 by community activists and Saving the Wild Coast (SWC) in which local residents and others opposed to the mining such as
environmentalists walked the entire length of the proposed mining site while brandishing signs and yelling anti-mining chants. The popular television program Carte Blanche was invited to the area and aired two separate episodes that voiced the community’s
opposition to the project (Carte Blanche 2008). Numerous newspapers and news
magazines, including The Mercury, Noseweek, and The Sunday Tribune, published stories about the local opposition. Finally, a large demonstration was made at the announcement of the approval of the mining right in 2008, leading to the disruption of the event (see Chapter 1 Background). All of these demonstrations served to put public pressure on the government to deny the mining right due to the bad publicity generated, while at the same time alerting potential allies of the fight.
In terms of violent protest, there are three separate incidents of note. The first was the vandalism of MRC/TEM monitoring devices set up in and around the mining site to measure dust. Several young people in the community were arrested for destroying the devices in 2002 in their attempt to derail the mining company’s efforts.35 The second incident took place immediately after the announcement that the government would grant the mining right in 2008. The main headman for all of AmaDiba, who had been against the mining in the past but switched to supporting the mine in 2008, was beaten nearly to death by a group of community members on his way home from the event.36 The headman and his family then moved away, and the headman died from an unrelated illness soon after, leaving no acting headman for Amadiba. The third form of violent protest employed by local people comes not in the form of action but in repeated verbal threats of violence, often with references to the Mpondo Revolt. A typical example follows from Community Respondent C:
To oppose Betterment, we had to fight, sleeping the forest, it can happen again if it needs to. This is going to take us back to that time, a bad situation where we had to kill the
35 Interview with Nonhle Mbuthuma, 19/02/11.
36 Numerous community members recounted this event in interviews.
people who were in favour of it. If the mining comes, all the people in support will be on one side and they will be killed.37
Threats of violence were not limited to private interviews, but were proclaimed publicly on the television Carte Blanche and in interviews with reporters. The threats and acts of violence served to put further pressure on the government to reject the mining application in fear of the further conflict and violence it would cause.
A third strategy of resistance employed by the community was to organize their resistance through the formation of the AmaDiba Crisis Committee (ACC) in 2002. The ACC leadership was elected at one of the weekly community gatherings under the tribal authority at komkulu, which is physically located in the Kwanyana block where the mining right was granted in 2008. The task of the ACC was to organize and manage the community’s resistance. The head of the organization is Bazooka Radebe, a local taxi owner and former member of Xolco who left once he became aware of the organization’s corrupt and undemocratic nature.38 Since its formation in 2002, the board of the ACC has continually informed the community of the state of the mining project both through personal conversations and at the weekly meetings at komkulu. The ACC organized the protest at the announcement that the mining right had been granted, alerting the local people who were unaware that such an announcement was to be made.39 Furthermore, all of the strategies and actions listed below were either planned, implemented, or assisted by the ACC, making it an extremely important actor in the mining saga.
One strategy used by the community and the ACC was to appeal to the traditional authority structures representing the area. The highest level of traditional authority presiding over Xolobeni is King Sicgau, paramount chief of all of Mpondoland. After hearing from the ACC, King Sicgau called for an imbizo40 in order to hear directly from the community what the issue was. After the imbizo, King Sicgau made strong public denouncements of the mining project, claiming it did not have his support or the support of his people. King Sicgau’s right to the throne is now being challenged by the
37 Interview with Community Respondent C, 21/02/11.
38 Interviews with Community Respondents A and B, 19/02/11.
39 Interview with Nonhle Mbuthuma, 19/02/11.
40 An imbizo is a large public gathering, under the traditional authority, in which the King or Chief hears comments and complaints directly from citizens. All community members are allowed to attend and speak.
government.41 Chief Lunga Baleni is the second highest traditional authority figure presiding over Xolobeni, claiming authority over all of AmaDiba. Chief Baleni has consistently opposed the mining project, and since meeting with the ACC, Chief Baleni has publicly claimed that the mine does not have the support of him or his people. Under Chief Baleni is headman Ndabazakhe Baleni, claiming authority over only coastal
AmaDiba, who at first opposed the mine at the ACC’s urging, then switched to supporting the mine just before the mining right was granted in 2008. Headman Ndabazakhe was the victim of the community’s violent attack after the mining right event, and no new headman has been named since. Thus, the ACC managed to convince all the most powerful and public members of the traditional authority to publicly oppose the mine, striking a serious blow to MRC/TEM’s and the municipal government’s claim of widespread community support.
In addition to their appeals to the traditional authority, the ACC also made a formal complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), with the help of activist social worker John Clarke. Clarke submitted the complaint on the behalf of the ACC in 2007, which claimed that the underhanded nature of the consultation process violated the local people’s human rights. In the complaint, Clarke and the ACC identified seven human rights that had been violated: the right to human dignity, the right of freedom of expression, the right of assembly, freedom of trade, occupation and
profession, the right to an environment that is not harmful to people’s health, the right to property, and the right of access to information. The SAHRC held a highly publicized hearing in 2008, and their findings mainly confirmed the alleged human rights abuses, and stressed that there had been insufficient consultation with the community (Bennie 2010: 145).
For legal assistance, the ACC enlisted the supported of the East London based Legal Resource Center (LRC). The LRC began to work with the ACC in 2008 after the decision to grant the mining license was announced. The LRC then submitted a formal
41 King Sicgau is the descendant of Paramount Chief Both Sicgau, a major collaborator with the apartheid government and the Betterment Scheme. During the mPondo Revolt, many mPondo’s claimed his brother had the true right to the throne. In an ironic twist, the current King Sicgau, grandson of Botha Sicgau, is now opposing the government’s plans. Perhaps non-coincidentally, the government is now claiming that Botha Sicgau’s brother was the true heir to the throne over 70 years ago, and is in the process of
challenging the current King’s legitimacy to rule in court.
appeal of the decision to the then Department of Minerals and Energy in 2008, detailing the insufficient and fraudulent consultation process and requesting that the license be revoked.42 The LRC also began to prepare documents and evidence for court challenges of the mining right in the case that the Minister did not revoke the license upon appeal.
Furthermore, the LRC repeatedly pressured the now Department of Mineral Affairs to make a decision on the appeal after several deadlines had passed, with the decision to revoke the license finally coming in June of 2011. The assistance of the LRC was thus vital to the community’s resistance to the mine, most notably due to the success of the appeal which the LRC authored and submitted at no cost to the community.
Another tactic used by the ACC to oppose the mining project was the creation of their own job-creating development project labeled Simbhademe43. The purpose of Simbhademe was to demonstrate to the community that there were other ways to create jobs other than the mining project, which had employed numerous community members in roles such as dust collection, installations, sample collectors, community liaisons, and promoters for the consultations.44 The project was initiated, planned, designed, and implemented by the ACC and other community members, and thus it can be said to have the highest level of participation, self-mobilization (see section 2.3.2). The funding for the project came from several different sources: the Community Organization Resource Center (CORC), PondoCROP, the South African Faith Communities Environmental Initiative (SAFCEI), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), with CORC and PondoCROP also contributing logistical and managerial support. The project involved all five coastal AmaDiba villages as well as one inland village along the Mtentu River.
The project was broken into three phases, each lasting approximately six months.
The first phase involved separate workshops in each of the six villages to determine what kind of small-scale development projects people wanted, with specialists on hand to answer technical questions. The second phase involved a smaller group from each of the
42Amadiba Crisis Committee’s Internal Appeal to the Minister of Minerals and Energy Against the Award of a Mining Right to Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources (SA) (PTY) LTD, September 2008
43 English translation: We have discovered.
44 All information about Simbhademe gathered through the following: Interview with Mzamo Dlamini, 19/02/11. Interview with Nonhle Mbuthuma, 19/02/11. Email correspondence with John Clarke, Mzamo Dlamini, and Nonhle Mbuthuma 01/05/11-30/06/11.
six villages who were selected to visit other areas to observe other development projects, as well as training specific to whatever project the village had decided upon. The final phase involved the actual execution of the projects. The planning for the project began in 2007, and all phases had been completed by 2009.
The projects differed for each of the six villages, and involved approximately five people from each village in the implementation. Some villages simply wanted to register development committees for their locale in order to put the legal framework in place and attract investment for future projects. Examples of some of the other small-scale projects include the attainment of a local grinding mill which is used to grind dry maize for making mealie meal, pap and porridge (which villagers would normally have to travel a long distance to use), and a project in which large chickens bred for meat were bought in bulk at a large farm and then sold to community members with the profit being used to improve the school building.
The projects, while small-scale and short-term, were well-suited to improve people’s lives without disturbing their livelihood systems. Simbhademe was an important tactic in the opposition to the mine as it demonstrated that alternative
development and alternatives to the mining project were still possible. In addition, the programme offers exciting possibilities for future development projects in the area as it has shown a clear determination and capability for self-mobilization style development.
The final strategy employed by the ACC to oppose the mining project was a concentrated effort to change the behavior of the Mbizana Municipality through the May 2011 elections. Working with the ANC, most notably local ANC branch chairperson Pitso Msebane, the ACC ensured that all three ANC candidates for Ward Councilor representing coastal Amadiba were anti-mining. Via the May 2011 elections, the ACC was thus able to replace the three Ward Councilors representing the area that had pushed hard for mining with Councilors who have promised to listen to the people and oppose the mining project. Numerous ACC members and other community respondents interviewed indicated a strong hope that this would lead to an increase in the attention and responsiveness by the Municipality to the people’s opinions.